Review : Tribe watch

Philippe Descola’s Spears of Twilight (Flamingo, £8.99, ISBN 0 00
686352 3) is a painstakingly researched investigation of Achuar Indian society
in Ecuador. Part adventure story, part biography, and illustrated by photographs
and engravings, this classic of anthropology is as sensitive, and beautifully
written, as the songs and poetry of the Achuar themselves.